I Saw Mommy
by the kid from colorado
Summary: Alex Xanatos saw something, but Lex isn't sure he believes him. That is, until he sees the tape... Holiday hilarity at Castle Wyvern. Merry Early Christmas!


_A/N: I woke up this morning with this idea fully formed. I know it's June, but it was just too good to resist. _

_Disclaimer: I own nothing, wish I did, but that, alas, is life._

I Saw Mommy

"Guess what?"

It was Christmas Eve, and the festivities were underway. Fox and Xanatos had commissioned a full-castle holiday makeover, and the gargoyles had been enlisted to help decorate—again. It had become something of a tradition over the past two years. There was going to be a big blowout party in Castle Wyvern tomorrow night, but for now Lexington was in the nursery, helping Alex hang garland all over the walls.

"Guess what?" Alex repeated as his small hands struggled with the garland. He had grown into a precocious little three-year-old, with clever blue eyes and hair as orange as a carrot. He had been forming complete sentences at eighteen months, so he was quite the talker. However, in this situation Lexington was finding it difficult to talk back—he was holding Alex up to reach, and the garland was all hanging down in his face and he had a good bit of it in his mouth.

"What is it, Alex?" he asked after he had spit out the decorations. Alex finally got the strand on the hook and waved for Lexington to let him down. Lex set him on the floor and he walked over to his blocks.

"I have a secret."

"Really?" Lexington smiled and began to hang the rest of the garland.

"Uh-huh. Want to hear it?"

"Of course I do." He finished the garland and hung a wreath on the door, then stepped back to admire their handiwork. The nursery was completely decked out in green, with bows and wreaths and ribbons added wherever Alex had felt they were necessary. It looked pretty good, and the little tree that had taken forever to put together stood in the corner, twinkling merrily. Not bad, if he did say so himself.

"You've got to promise not to tell."

Lex looked over at Alex. The toddler was staring at him solemnly, his eyes huge as if to impress upon him the enormity of this secret.

"Alright, Alex." Lexington came and lay down on the floor on his stomach, propping himself up on his elbows so he could see Alex eye-to-eye. "I swear it on my life."

"Pinky promise?" To Alex, this was the most binding oath someone could make.

"Ooh, this is serious." Lex was trying very hard not so smile. "Pinky promise."

Alex looked satisfied. He leaned forward, his eyes wide, and whispered, "I saw something last night."

"What was it?" Lex whispered back.

"You have to guess!"

"Hmm. Was it… a snowflake?"

"Nope."

"What about a gingerbread house?"

"Nope!"

"This is a tough one." He scooped Alex up and tickled him. "How about a reindeer?" he asked.

"Nope!" Alex giggled and squirmed. "But you're getting closer."

Inspiration hit him. "Santa Claus?"

"Yes!" Alex wiggled away joyfully. "I saw Santa Claus! I saw Santa Claus!" he sang.

Now that his secret was out, it didn't seem like he cared to keep it quiet. Lex laughed.

"Well, where did you see him?"

"In the living room," said Alex, skipping around the blocks. He bent down to make an adjustment to the rocket ship he'd been building out of Lego's. "Next to the big tree. And guess who was with him?"

"Who?"

"Mommy."

Lex grinned widely. "No way! You're kidding me."

"Nope." Here Alex's smile stretched all the way across his face. "And you'll never, _ever _guess what they were doing."

_I've got a pretty good idea, _Lex thought, but he asked anyway. "What?"

_"Kissing!" _Alex shrieked with laughter and clapped his little hands, and looked so delighted that Lex cracked up too.

"Well, we'd better not tell your Dad about this," he said once he could breathe again. "He might want to go and beat Santa up."

"Oh, Daddy already knows."

"I'll bet he does."

"Yeah. He walked in while they were kissing."

Lex paused. Alex was attaching blocks to the wing and observing the effect before taking them off again. He didn't seem to realize the strangeness of what he had said.

"What?"

"Yeah. Daddy told him he wasn't doing it right." Alex poked a finger into his mouth.

Lex got down so he could look Alex in the eye. "Alex, are you telling a story?"

"No."

"Are you sure? Are you sure you're not fibbing to me?"

"No!" Alex looked at him very crossly, as though deeply wounded Lex could even think such a thing. "I don't fib. I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus, and then Daddy told Santa he was a bad kisser!"

Lexington watched the snow drift past the windowpane. He had been quite certain that Alex was talking about Xanatos, but now he was confused. He drummed his fingers against the floor, thinking.

"Okay," he said finally. "I believe you, Alex. But Uncle Lex wants to see for himself. Okay?"

"Okay. You'll see. I don't fib." He still looked offended.

"You want to come with me?"

"Yeah!" Lex stood and reached down to pick Alex up.

"Piggy back! Piggy back!"

"Oh, all right." He put Alex up on his shoulders and grunted. "Jeez, Alex, what are they feeding you? You're getting too big for this!"

They went out into the hallway, which was lined with Christmas lights and festive ribbon. Lex could tell at once that this had been Angela's doing; sprigs of holly and poinsettias poked out of every available space, and Angela loved flowers. Alex reached up to swat at the mistletoe hanging from the ceiling, but Lex wasn't tall enough for him to reach.

They rounded a corner into the south hall. Brooklyn and Bronx were striding toward them.

"Hey, Lex. Hi, Alex." Brooklyn reached up and Alex gave him a high-five. Bronx woofed happily, wagging his stumpy tail. "We're on a mission," Brooklyn explained to Lex's questioning glance. "Bronx got kicked out of the kitchen, and Fox sent me to find more decorations for that huge tree in the Great Hall. She said they're in a box… somewhere."

"Good luck. We're off to the surveillance room."

"Why?"

"Alex reckons he saw... something, last night."

"What kind of 'something'?" Brooklyn asked warily. Alex leaned in conspiratorially.

"I have a secret," he whispered.

Brooklyn caved. Curious, he followed Lex and Alex to the surveillance room, Bronx trotting along cheerfully beside them.

The surveillance room was empty, and the only sound was the whirring of the machinery. Obviously, Fox and Xanatos had given most of their staff the night off for the holiday. That, and they didn't want a lot of curious or frightened spectators to be around when their very eclectic guests arrived tomorrow night for the party.

"All right, Alex," said Lex, lifting the boy off his shoulders and showing him the monitors. "Show me which room they were in."

Alex looked at the glowing screens and put a finger in his mouth. Then he pointed at the monitor that showed the living room.

"Thanks, little guy." Lex put him on the floor where Bronx immediately began to wash his face for him, much to Alex's delight.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Brooklyn asked dryly. Lex typed a command onto the keyboard, and the tape in the surveillance monitor began to rewind. He chuckled.

"You'll know it when you see it," he said.

They watched the events of the day occur in reverse; people walking through the living room backwards, Fox taking down all the decorations, candles becoming unlit as soon as the lighter touched them. Alex was amusing himself—he had found a moth fluttering around near the floor and he was practicing his magic on it, turning it into a dragonfly, a beetle, a butterfly.

"Look!" he giggled, when he managed to turn it into a hummingbird. "Look, Uncle Lex!"

"That's great, Alex," he said distractedly. "Just don't turn it into anything poisonous. Or fire-breathing. Okay?"

"You don't let me have _any _fun…"

"What is _that?" _said Brooklyn suddenly. Lex scrambled for the play button.

They watched the three figures on the monitor for a moment in utter astonishment. The rookery brothers exchanged glances, completely lost for words.

"Rewind it," said Brooklyn. "Back to the beginning."

Lex did it, and they watched as the first two figures entered the frame.

"Oh my _God." _

"That's really—"

"How did she…?"

"Told you," said Alex serenely, watching the moth-turned-frog hop frantically away from Bronx, who seemed to be wondering what it tasted like. "Told you I wasn't fibbing."

"Yeah, you sure showed me," said Lex, his eyes glued to the screen. If he hadn't been so blown away, he would have been having an uncontrollable laugh attack right now.

"You know, I really think red is his color," said Brooklyn, and simultaneously they both keeled over, laughing hysterically.

"Oh my _God," _Lex repeated, unable to breathe for laughing. "Where's the eject button, I'm keeping this…" He found the button on the console and pressed it. A moment later the screen went fuzzy and the tape emerged from the VCR. Lex held it up triumphantly, beaming.

"This is _gold," _he said. "I'm going to show this to my hatchlings one day."

"Why wait?" said Brooklyn, still chuckling. "It's Christmas. We should spread the joy."

"But how—"

But suddenly they were interrupted by Alex, who let out a sharp peal of laughter—Bronx had caught the frog.

* * *

They put Alex to bed and tracked down the box of decorations, and Lexington walked with Brooklyn to the Great Hall, quietly discussing their plan.

"Lex!" Fox called across the hall, interrupting them. Her hair was pinned up as she worked, and she looked flushed but happy. "Is the nursery done?"

"Yeah." They joined her by the tree. Brooklyn handed her the box and she began to fish for ornaments. "It looks really good. And Alex is asleep."

"Really? It's still early for him." She laughed. "How many mothers can say that? Midnight is still early for a baby..."

"Yeah, well, he tired himself out. He was practicing his magic…"

He told her about the frog. Fox smiled, but she looked down at Bronx worriedly.

"He's not going to get sick, is he?" she asked, and Bronx wagged his tail.

"Who, Bronx?" said Brooklyn. "Nah, he's eaten much worse."

Bronx chose this moment to let out a loud belch, and Lex, who was in a giddy modd already, had to clap his hand over his mouth to stop from dissolving into another fit of the giggles.

"Charming," said Fox with a grimace, and she went to find more tinsel. Lex decided it was safe and snorted with laughter.

"She's going to be so pissed when we show this," he said happily.

"Her and Xanatos both." Brooklyn looked around the hall. "We could definitely hook the TV up to that outlet over by the window. But how are we going to get everyone to watch it?"

The door banged open at the end of the hall and Elisa, wearing a scarf and with snow still in her hair, strode in.

"Sorry I'm late, guys," she called out, waving to Broadway as he came out of the kitchen. "Christmas party at my parents', and Dad wanted us all to watch the old home movies…"

Lexington and Brooklyn exchanged wordless glances of delight.


End file.
